Photo by: Brenden Cowan
The MBA Games, an annual three-day MBA (Masters of Business Administration) competition between Canadian universities took place from Jan 6. to Jan. 8.
MBA teams competed in three competitive categories; academics, which is all about identifying real world problems across industries today, athletics, which engages participants in physical activities, and spirit, which encourages MBA teams to give back to their communities while participating in the MBA games.
This year, after competing against 13 schools from across the country, and placing fourth overall in last year’s MBA games, the Goodman School of Business was named the winner of the Queen’s Cup for the 2023 MBA games for the first time in 34 years. This year’s Goodman MBA team consisted of 16 graduate students.
“Over the last few months, this team put in countless hours practicing and planning for this competition. Each and everyone of these graduate students helped propel the team to this momentous win and we applaud their hard work,” said the school of business, in their celebratory Instagram post.
The two captains of the Goodman School of Business’ MBA team this year were Mourin Mostafiz, who is currently in her second year of a masters of science in management with a specialization in marketing, and Gopichand (Moe) Maruri, who is currently pursuing his final MBA term in business analytics.
“The prep started almost 8 months before the main event,” said Gopichand. “For five months, it was just me planning and meeting with past captains and getting details from them on what went wrong—-as a captain, I had to make a good choice of capable individuals who showed commitment to put on the team. Overall, it was a strategic move to win the MBA Games this year.”
Gopichand, who was named the MVP for both the 2022 and 2023 MBA Games, commended his teammates on the win.
“It’s one of the best teams I’ve ever led, as leader and I’m proud of it. Each member has shown commitment, dedication, and perseverance,” said Gopichand
Goodman’s MBA team finished third overall in both the academic and athletic categories and finished first overall in the spirit category.
A charity is selected in each year’s MBA games and participating schools are to raise money and awareness to that charity. This year, Future Possibilities for Kids, a non-profit organization that builds self confidence in children and encourages them to create positive change in the community was chosen. Goodman’s MBA team partnered with the Ted Rogers School of Management to raise more than $16,000 for the charity.
Since the reigning champions of the event are awarded the privilege of hosting it the following year in their home city, next year’s MBA Games are set to be hosted at Brock University and the city of St. Catharines.